Book Review: Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

Last spring, Mackenzie's best friend Amy was brutally murdered.

By a white werewolf.

Mac, Amy, Amy's boyfriend Jason, and her good friend Kyle were an inseperable foursome, until Amy became the last victim in a string of werewolf murders in the small town of Hemlock. All three blame themselves for Amy's death - Mac cancelled their movie night to study, Jason was late picking her up, and Kyle didn't answer his phone that night. Although there has been no sign of the white wolf for months, Mac's dreams are haunted by blood, dark alleys, wolves, and Amy's ghost.  Jason, always a spoiled bad boy, is lost in the rage of his grief, drinking too much and picking fights with the wrong guys.  And solid, reliable Kyle is suddenly unavailable and secretive.  Mac wants to blame the new distance between them on his ex-girlfriend Heather's frequent, needy tantrums, but she knows there's something else going on.

When there's another werewolf attack, Amy's senator grandfather calls in the Trackers, a vigilante group dedicated to wiping out lupine syndrome - and the people who carry the virus.  Mac doesn't trust them with their violent methods and cult mentality, but Jason wants revenge and is sure the Trackers can help him hunt down the white wolf.

Completely unable to comvince Jason that the Trackers are the wrong way to get justice for Amy's death, Mac decides that the only thing to do is find the white wolf before the Trackers do.  Because the Trackers aren't just in Hemlock for the white wolf - they want to flush out every werewolf in town, killer or not, and make them disappear.  But when it turns out Kyle is hiding more than just one big secret, Mac's plan suddenly becomes a whole lot more complicated - and risky.  With way more at stake than Jason's future, Mac digs deeper into Amy's murder.  But someone out there doesn't want her looking - and will stop at nothing to keep her from the truth.

Dark, suspenseful, and riveting, this werewolf murder mystery had me up late racing to the finish.  With some awesome swoony romance that'll keep you guessing until the first kiss (Jason? Kyle? I'm not telling!), a tough, smart heroine, a conspiracy of dark secrets, and people who are a whole lot scarier than the werewolves they're hunting, fans of paranormal thrillers won't want to miss this one @the library!

Megan
(who can't wait to dive in to Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo this weekend!)

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